Nathan MacKinnon to miss up to two weeks because of lower-body injury

The news certainly could have been a lot worse. But the fact is, Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon will miss some time because of the lower-body injury suffered Monday night in Los Angeles.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said MacKinnon will miss 1-2 weeks with the injury. MacKinnon, who hadn’t missed a game all season and is the team’s leading scorer with 93 points, will not be in the lineup for tonight’s game with the New York Rangers.

MacKinnon had an MRI Tuesday night, and the results, while not perfect, indicated no serious injury. While MacKinnon is not available for comment and exactly how and when his injury occurred is unclear, he was involved in a tangle along the boards with the Kings’ Martin Frk in the second period Monday, and never played another shift. Frk’s right skate became entangled with MacKinnon’s left skate, which appeared to stretch MacKinnon’s leg some.

The Avalanche recalled forward Martin Kaut from the Colorado Eagles today.

In other Avs health news, Cale Makar was back skating in a regular jersey again and will play tonight.

“I’m super excited to be back,” Makar said.

Andre Burakovsky, Mikko Rantanen, Nazem Kadri and Matt Calvert all skated in red non-contact jerseys. They all participated with the regular players during the morning skate, however. Goalie Philipp Grubauer also skated.

The Avs host the New York Rangers at 8 p.m.